How cookies are used on GOV.UK

Measuring website usage (Google Analytics)

We use Google Analytics software to collect information about how you use GOV.UK. We do this to help make sure the site is meeting the needs of its users and to help us make improvements, eg improving site search.

Google Analytics stores information about:

the pages you visit on GOV.UK

how long you spend on each GOV.UK page

how you got to the site

what you click on while you’re visiting the site

We don’t collect or store your personal information (eg your name or address) so this information can’t be used to identify who you are.

We don’t allow Google to use or share our analytics data.

Google Analytics sets the following cookies:

Universal Analytics

Name

Purpose

Expires

_ga

This helps us count how many people visit GOV.UK by tracking if you’ve visited before

2 years

_gat

Used to manage the rate at which page view requests are made

10 minutes

Google Analytics

Name

Purpose

Expires

_utma

Like _ga, this lets us know if you’ve visited before, so we can count how many of our visitors are new to GOV.UK or to a certain page

2 years

_utmb

This works with _utmc to calculate the average length of time you spend on GOV.UK

30 minutes

_utmc

This works with _utmb to calculate when you close your browser

when you close your browser

_utmz

This tells us how you reached GOV.UK (eg from another website or a search engine)

6 months

GOV.UK events

Name

Purpose

Expires

analytics_next_page_call

This lets us know the next page you visit on GOV.UK, so we can make journeys better

when you close your browser

govuk_contact_referrer

This lets us know the last page you visited before using the contact GOV.UK form

Our introductory message

You may see a pop-up welcome message when you first visit GOV.UK. We’ll store a cookie so that your computer knows you’ve seen it and knows not to show it again.

Name

Purpose

Expires

seen_cookie_message

Saves a message to let us know that you’ve seen our cookie message

1 month

Your progress when applying for a licence

When you apply for a licence using the ‘apply for a licence’ service, we’ll set a cookie to remember your progress through the forms. These cookies don’t store your personal data and are deleted once you’ve completed the transaction.

Name

Purpose

Expires

licensing_session

Set to remember information you’ve entered into a form when applying for a licence

When you close your browser

YouTube videos

We use YouTube to provide videos on some pages of the site. YouTube sets cookies when you visit one of these pages.

Name

Purpose

Expires

_use_hitbox

This is a randomly generated number that identifies your browser

When you close your browser

VISITOR_INFO1_LIVE

Lets Youtube count the views of embedded Youtube videos

9 months

Government services

Most services we link to are run by different government departments, eg HMRC or the Home Office. These services may set additional cookies and, if so, will have their own cookies policy.

Browser upgrade prompt

We log a cookie the first time you visit GOV.UK to let us know you’ve visited once.

If you’re using an out-of-date browser the next time you visit, we’ll show you a message suggesting you upgrade.

We’ll also save a cookie that lets us know you don’t want to see the prompt if you dismiss it.

Name

Purpose

Expires

govuk_not_first_visit

Stops us prompting you to upgrade an out-of-date browser until after your first visit

28 days

govuk_browser_upgrade_dismissed

Saves a message to let us know you’ve seen and dismissed the browser upgrade prompt

28 days

Our performance survey

We select some users to take part in a performance survey. If you take part, or dismiss the survey, we’ll save a cookie that lets us know you’ve seen the message so that we don’t show it to you again.

Name

Purpose

Expires

govuk_takenUserSatisfactionSurvey

Saves a message to remember if you’ve taken the survey or dismissed it

4 months

We use SurveyMonkey to collect responses to the survey. If you take part, SurveyMonkey will save extra cookies to your computer to track your progress through it.